2008 Birthday Offering Recipients

Building a Strong Future for the Congo is designed to strengthen ministries in education, nutrition and technical assistance in order for the people of the Congo to recover from Congo’s devastating 10-year war.

The grant from Presbyterian Women will provide roofing materials for 19 existing rural schools. Five existing schools will be rebuilt with durable materials. Textbooks and teacher manuals will be supplied to teachers who do not have copies for their own preparation. Motorbikes will be provided to the six regional education supervisors of the church so that they can visit the schools in East and West Kasai on a regular basis and give technical assistance to improve programs. Ten teacher-training seminars will be held to improve the quality of instruction.

In Tshikaji, Kinshasa and Mbuji Mayi, the funds will be used to expand the work of the existing Presbyterian Moringa programs that will serve as project coordination sites. Simple dietary integration of nutritious leaves from the Moringa tree has proven to have a significant impact on reducing malnutrition.

Mission/Purpose Statement
The Presbyterian Communities of Kinshasa and Congo exist to minister to the spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional well being of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Read a thank-you letter (in English and Spanish) from the Presbyterian Church of Congo and the Presbyterian Church of Kinshasa.

Learn more about the Birthday Offering and find out how to give.

In August 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, a break in New Orleans’ 17th Street Canal floodwall caused Lakeview Presbyterian Church’s Weekday School to be flooded with more than eight feet of water. The water stayed inside the school for two and a half weeks and destroyed everything but the outside shell of the building.

The grant from Presbyterian Women will be used to help rebuild the facility and expand its services, allowing the school to serve even younger children than before, in addition to its usual age groups. The grant also will be used to buy equipment suitable for the younger age group, replace equipment for the other groups and restore outdoor play areas.

Mission/Purpose Statement
The mission of the school is the same as the Lakeview Presbyterian Church: that each child and their family may grow in the knowledge and love of God and that they may come to a more abundant life in Christ our Savior.

The Weekday School’s educational philosophy is that early childhood is the magical time when both fact and fantasy can live joyously in the heart of a child. The school acknowledges that childhood is a pivotal time, when what children hear, see and do begins to shape who they will become in the future. During childhood, the seeds of positive self-image, self-mastery and self-discovery may be planted so that they may ripen in the child’s future.

Read a thank-you letter (in English or Spanish) from Lakeview Presbyterian Church Weekday School.

Learn more about the Birthday Offering and find out how to give.